AR Murugadoss calls working with Salman Khan not easy after Sikandar failed: ‘He turns up on set only by 8 pm, used VFX'

Mint

5 hours ago

Sikandar director AR Murugadoss opened up about his film in a recent interview. He shared that his work experience with superstar Salman Khan wasn't easy for several reasons. He also admitted to his shortcomings in the making of Sikandar after the film failed to impress the audience and critics.
In an interview with Valaipechu Voice, Murugadoss shared how Salman Khan would turn up late for the film shoot. He also shared that his team would mostly shoot indoors, heavily relying on VFX amid death threats to Khan.
AR Murugadoss said, 'It's not easy to shoot with a star. Even day scenes, we have to shoot at night because he turns up to sets only by 8 PM. We are people who are used to shooting right from early mornings, but that's not how things work there.' The filmmaker claimed that the film shoot would start shooting only after 9 pm and only indoors. 'Almost everything was shot on green mat and we used VFX extensively to get the daylight effect for the scenes that were shot at night. On top of that, multiple people used to suggest a lot of spot changes on the set in the script,' he explained.
Murugadoss further shared how late-night shoots became difficult, especially when it came to managing the child actors. 'If there were four kids in a scene, we would have to shoot with them at 2 AM, even if it's the shot of them returning from school. They would become tired by that time and usually dozed off," he added.
Murugadoss is best known for his Bollywood hit Ghajini. However, Sikandar failed to recreate his magic as he returned to Hindi films.
Talking about Sikandar, Murugadoss confessed that he couldn't execute the film despite having an emotional story which would have connected with the audience. 'In the film, when the king loses his wife, her organs are donated to three different people. He then seeks them out, trying to fulfil the things he couldn't do for her. In the process, he befriends an entire village. The story was emotional, but I couldn't execute it well," he said.
Sikandar also featured Rashmika Mandanna, Kajal Aggarwal, Sathyaraj, Sharman Joshi and Prateik Babbar.
The film reportedly earned ₹ 184.6 crore worldwide and failed to recover money as it is believed that it was made on a budget of ₹ 200 crore.
Meanwhile, Khan will be next seen in Apoorva Lakhia's Battle of Galwan.